


white walls [the city never looked so bright]

by Nemotaco



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: First Meetings, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Strangers to Lovers, dan’s an aesthetic bitch, hairdresser au, same with phil i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 14:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18096287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemotaco/pseuds/Nemotaco
Summary: prompt: phil owns a hair salon and dan wants change in life.ori watched a dapg video and phil said he’d own a salon called “lesty’s clippers” and i knew i had to do something with this information





	white walls [the city never looked so bright]

—-

 

Moving to London was not in Dan’s five year plan, however finding out his boyfriend was cheating on him for almost a year with Dan’s boss was also not on that plan. It could be worse Dan had been saying.

In fact, not everything is falling apart, besides the humiliation and the billion emotional breakdowns he’s had in the past week, Dan was able to finally accept that job position he had been offered for a few months back, Jeremy or his boss wasn’t there to stop him this time. ‘Why change what you have now? I’m happy living here.’ was what Jeremy would always say, and Dan finds it that to be a bit hypocritical now. 

So here Dan was, a new start to his life in a different city with a better job. He had decided on renting a flat in the city since his pay had been raised by almost double the amount he had back at home when he was living in a small town house on the outskirts of Manchester. Dan had always wanted change, and he was finally getting it. This will be his year and he’s ready to work for what he wants in life.

Dan had already felt something change in him by the time he got fully settled into his flat, every room was decorated by him and everything just felt so… Personally, and Dan loved it. He was living in his aesthetic dream without anyone to drag him down. 

He had just finished putting away his clothes he had just bought and he stopped in front of the mirror when he realized he should probably get a trim, it was overdue and his straightened hair was almost falling in the way of his eyes. He put his hand through it and shaped it into a quiff the best he could without hair gel and imagined walking around with this look. He huffed as he picked up his phone to book a hair appointment asap.

He clicked on the first number that was given and was surprised when the cheerful girl on the other side of the phone offered for him to come in in the next hour. He graciously accepted and went on his way to get ready. Impulsively changing his hair is something he’d never do a year ago, but he’s different now.

Washing his hair right before a hair appointment was something he’d always done, even though they wash his hair for him he still would feel embarrassed showing up with greasy hair. So he quickly shuffles his spotify and jumps in the shower. Scrubbing his hair with his 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner he had to buy during the move felt refreshing, it smelt a bit girlish but it’s not like Dan has never fucked with gender roles.

He starts to think about what he wanted to do to his hair as he puts on his jeans, long sleeved shirt, and peacoat, and when he leaves his flat ten minutes before he was scheduled to be at the appointment, he still has no fucking clue. Impulsive decisions and he still finds a way to procrastinate.

He spots the hair salon easily, the name was mostly the reason. The sign “Lesty’s Clippers” was in an aesthetic black font. Opening the door he was greeted by almost all white furniture and a white desk that sat a blue-haired girl who Dan assumed was the one he talked on the phone with an hour previously.

He walks up to the desk and the girl looks up from her computer and smiles. “Hi! Daniel Howell right?” She reaches out her hand and Dan takes it in hers without hesitation. 

“Dan is fine, thank you! I have an appointment at 4pm but I’m sure you already know that.”

She laughs. “The computer remembers everything for me! So technically speaking, yes, I do remember. Do you know what you want to do with your hair?”

“Um I-I don’t really know…” He can feel himself blush as he looks down at his shoes. 

“That’s okay! Phil will know what to do with you if you don’t.”

“I’m assuming Phil is the one who is doing my hair…?”

“Yes he is! He also owns the place.” She pauses. “He’s very good at figuring out what to do with hair, I came in with brown hair and he turned me into this!” She gestures at her hair.

“I see, your hair is lovely by the way. The colour is really cool.” She smiles even wider at that.

“Thank you, I like it too! Phil should be around five minutes if you want to sit down.” 

Dan sits down near the hair magazines and plans to take a look but finds himself wondering what this “Phil” person will do to his hair if he doesn’t know what he wants. So instead he scrolls through twitter and waits.

Almost five minutes later on the dot, he hears footsteps going up to the front desk and Dan can feel himself blush even by looking at this man.

He’s absolutely beautiful, Dan’s eyes first catch his outfit. Ripped black jeans and a fitted long sleeve burgandy shirt, it’s casual but somehow it makes this man look like a glowing angel. He was almost as tall as Dan, maybe the same height with the gel black hair that is shaped into a quiff, it almost looked like what Dan was trying out earlier but this hair looked smoother, lucious even. He’s stuck staring at the man that he doesn’t realize that the receptionist was talking to the man about him. It was then that Dan realized that this was Phil. He’s fucked.

Not actually though, because he still stands up when Phil walks over to him. He stretches out his hand and is somehow surprised when a fairly warm and strong hand grabs his, he looks up and lightly gasps as he makes eye contact with piercing blue eyes. The handshake must be lingering by now and Dan drops his hand.

“Hi, I’m Dan, you must be Phil?” Casual enough.

“Yeah I’m Phil, it’s a pleasure to meet you! I heard you are indecisive about your hair?” He asks with a northern accent as he smiles and holds his gaze. Dan lives in central London and he’s still gaping over an accent, how pathetic. He looks over at the girl quickly, hoping she’d make eye contact and somehow his nervousness would dissipate, but to no avail she’s just back to typing on her computer.

He looks back up at Phil and blushes, “Yeah. I don’t really know, I’m sorry.” He can see Phil is looking at his red spot on his cheek and somehow blushes even more. This is embarrassing.

“Dan don’t worry! I like doing this, not a lot of people that come here let me explore. Hell, actually I don’t think the clients know what is happening until it’s over.” 

“What do you mean by that..?” He asks curiously.

“Oh I just mean I mostly do elderly clients and special occasions. I haven’t done a millenials hair in who knows how long…” He watches as Phil does a quick up and down of his body and he doesn’t feel self conscious. Dan knows he looks good, all of his clothes are new and fresh and he’s wearing a bit of concealer and mascara. 

Phils eyes linger on Dans lips and then he rockets his eyes back up to Dans and it takes a moment before he realizes that it’s his turn to say something.

“I see! I’m fine with you exploring with my hair. I need change, I’ve had this hair forever and I’m getting bored.” He feels himself giggle.

“Okay then Dan, how about let’s get your jacket off and get you under a sink to wash your hair. I like the straightened look by the way, I hope you don’t feel self conscious about your look! I used to have a fringe like that too.” He leads Dan over to a set of chairs by the sink and Dan automatically sits in one and leans back. He knows the drill.

“So you know the deadly task of straightening your hair every morning yeah?” Dan asks as he looks up at Phil who was currently mixing some hair substances together.

“Well… Not really. I have naturally straight hair. I can tell you have curly hair underneath though.” He goes over to Dan and starts the water and gently brings Dan’s head back underneath.

“Oh.. Wait how would you know that?” Dan asks as he feels hands come to knead at his hair. It’s nice, it’s always felt nice but today it’s different. He thinks he knows why. 

“Look at where we are silly goose.” Phil giggles and then smirks and Dan can’t help but feel embarrassed and confident at the same time. He doesn’t respond as he continued to let the man wash his hair in silence. He could feel his neck beginning to ache as he tried to slightly readjusted.

“So..” Phil pauses like he’s thinking. “Dan, what kind of shampoo do you normally use?” Oh. So he forgot his name, Dan thinks but then erases it from his mind, they just met ten minutes ago this means nothing. He’s probably never going to see this man in his life again anyways.

Dan clears his throat. “Honestly, whatever smells the best and is cheapest at any shop really.”

Phil hums in acknowledgment and continues to rinse out whatever he had put in his hair previously. The silence then lingers until he’s finished and guiding Dan’s head back into sitting position and being quick to grab a towel and dry of his hair to an extent.

“We’re just going to move over to the chair over there.” As he gestures to a different part of the salon. They walk over as Phil continues holding the towel above Dan’s head. He sits down and Phil lowers the seat to make it easier for hi. They make eye contact in the mirror and even though Dan has never met this man he can tell he has a thinking face on.

“You can do whatever you want… Dye it, cut it, shave it.. I don’t really care, I just want change.” Dan says sincerely and he can see Phil nod through the mirror.

“Who hurt you so bad that you need such a change Dan?” Phil jokes.

“My boyfriend.” Dan mutters and he can see Phil’s smile drops and Dan feels bad for a split second.

“Sorry that was kind of insensitive.” Phil says quietly and breaks the eye contact from the mirror and plays with whatever is on his cart. 

“No stop it’s okay! I’ve kind of started to get over it so I’m at the joking stage now.” Dan tries to find Phil’s eyes through the mirror. He does, those bright blue eyes are back staring into his with a smile on his face.

“Oh I see, I went through a break up a year ago and sometimes I still get those days where I’m sensitive so I don’t know why I made that joke honestly… May I ask what happened? Or is that too weird. I don’t know maybe I can get inspiration from something.”

“No it’s okay it’s honestly not that bad. Basically I met Jeremy through my job, and we got along pretty well, he was my first boyfriend so it was kind of a big deal… My boss was younger than me and was a very beautiful woman who managed to buy her way to the top at corporate level. Jeremy and her were close but I didn’t really look into it since Jeremy always told me he was 100% not into girls. We dated for literally three years and on my 22nd birthday I came home early from dinner with my parents and on the couch they were having a fucking hay day together. Turned out he’s been cheating on me for the whole three years we dated. It was fucked. Anyways did that inspire anything?” 

Phil stays quiet for a bit. Looking strangely at Dan and everything around him. 

“Yeah… Yeah I got an idea. Make sure you tell me if you don’t like it okay?” Phil smiles. “Also sorry for what happened to you, you definitely didn’t deserve to have that happen to you.” 

“I’ll tell you if I don’t like it don’t worry. Also, thank you for listening Phil I appreciate it. You’re like the first person I’ve talked to about this besides my parents.” 

“Oh..?” Phil questions as he grabs his scissors and puts some product through his hair.

“Yeah… All of my co-workers were my only friends and they instantly took Jeremy’s side. Now that I moved into town I don’t really talk to anyone anymore. Just my parents.” Dan lets out a force chuckle as he realizes how stupid and depressing he probably sounds. 

“Oh Dan, I’m sorry about that. I used to move around a lot as a kid and it was hard having to gain new friends as an outsider. I’m glad you moved away from that though! You definitely deserve better than that. I don’t see how anyone can cheat you, you seem lovely.” He starts to trim the tips of Dan’s hair. 

Dan blushes at Phil’s words.” Thank you Phil, honestly I already feel happier, I took up a promotion that I offered a while back but I turned it down because Jeremy was a small town boy, I should have ran away well I could have.” He almost looks down but realizes the situation. Instead he flutters his eyelashes and looks at the hair magazines in front of him.

“Well.” Phil starts as he pulls out an electric razor. “That is awesome Dan I am very happy for you!” He says as he starts on the left side of his head. Dan really tries to not pay attention because he kind of wanted it to be a surprise but he gives himself a few seconds to look at his hair. It’s curly. There’s no surprise there but it looks a bit cleaner and less like a mop. He finds himself smiling. 

“So Phil what’s your sob story then?” He asks.

He watches in the mirror as Phil starts chuckling to himself as he’s taking the object and moving it behind his ear, his smile has a beautiful glint of positive energy Dan notices, he could get use to that, he adds. 

“Well it’s kind of like yours. Dated a girl for a year, realized I wasn’t straight at all and told her in the kindest way I could. Then she started a rumour that she broke up with me because I slept with her brother which I did cheat on her by the way.” He shakes his head in disbelief and starts to style Dan’s hair. 

“That is fucked oh my god.” Dan says sincerely then decides to add a quick- “Is everything okay now though? I mean rumours can get almost everywhere.”

“Yeah it died down pretty quick. She never apologized to me but her brother did for her so I guess that was kind. I also fucked her brother after the fact.” 

Dan chokes at that which caused Phil to pull the scissors back to avoid injuries. Their eyes meet and Phil has a mischievous grin planted on his face.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Is all he can say to that.

“I did. Never saw either of them after though. Now I’m living the single life.” He takes a step back. “Also I’ve finished!”

Dan looks up into the mirror. It’s not jaw dropping but it’s a big change for Dan. His hair is curly but styled in a way where it isn’t messy, the sides of his hair that were previously pretty long were now shaved and now his hair looks like it’s from a topman model. He looks and feels good.

“Phil- This is fucking perfect thank you so much. I’m in love.” He stands up to take a closer look in the mirror and runs his hands through his hair, it’s soft and feels like clouds. Behind him he can hear Phil rummaging through something so he turns around and Phil’s coming up to him with two bottles.

“The shampoo you’re using doesn’t actually clean your hair, take these and your hair will feel like heaven all the time. It’s real shampoo and will help strengthen your roots. The second bottle here.” He gestures to a skinnier bottle. “Is conditioner, you put it in your hair after washing the shampoo out and let it soak through your hair for a few minutes and wash it out after. It will make your hair softer and look nice.” He puts the bottles into Dan’s hands and goes towards the counter so Dan automatically goes behind it, puts the bottles on the counter, and fishes for his wallet. 

“Are you sure you like it Dan? It wasn’t much and I could have done more but I think this fits you well. It’s a change from what you had previously but I like how it’s a very subtle difference, you look good with it.” Phil leans over the counter to brush a stray curl away from Dan’s forehead and the younger boy can feel his face redden. 

“I’m serious Phil, I love it. I’m definitely coming back to you for awhile.” He laughs. He watches as Phil typed something into the register and looks at the price on the screen go from 0.00 to $29.99. His head tilts in confusion.

“That’s not right Phil, I owe you at least $60 and you didn’t even charge me for the shampoo and conditioner!” He whines. He would give this man his life savings if he even had any.

Phil laughs hard as he types a few more things into the register and it goes even lower to $20.  
“You’ll never win Dan, I own this store I can charge you as little as I want.” 

“Bet.” Dan blurts.

“Yeah, alright then. How are you paying?” 

“Debit card please.” Dan smiles brightly. Phil passes him the machine and Dan makes sure to keep the screen on it out of sight.

He wasn’t stupid, these places are expensive now a days and last time he came with his mother to get her hair dyed it came up to $100, and Dan can’t just let himself only give so little for a man who deserves the regular pricing.

So when it goes to the tip option, he selects custom and leaves a $75 tip. He was planning on spending that much anyways. He looks up at Phil and finds the vibrant eyes staring at him but are quickly averted when he noticed that Dan was staring at him. He is the cutest thing the younger boy had ever seen.

The card beeped and promoted Dan to take out his card and the receipt automatically started printing, luckily Phil didn’t bat an eye at it as he gave one to Dan and one into the register. 

“Thank you Phil. I really appreciate it. I will definitely be calling in the next few months.” He goes to put on his jacket that was previously hanging on the coat rack and grabs his bottles of hair products and looks over at Phil who still hasn’t said a word. He’s just looking at Dan as if he was expecting something more, so Dan reaches his hand over the counter as a peace offering.

Phil takes it in his hand and they shake and as soon as it started it was over. Dan turns around and starts to walk out as he hears a squeaky “Bye Dan!” From behind him. He smiles as he opens the door. 

And then there’s footsteps coming from behind him so he turns around and there’s a flustered Phil in front of him. 

“I want to see you sooner than a few months if that’s okay?” He asks and Dan takes a look at him up and down and notices that his hands are clenched at his sides, it was weird to see Phil so nervous even though he was confident only an hour previously.

Dan chuckles and smiles at him. “I would like that Phil, I would like that a lot. Give me your phone number and I’ll text you?” 

“Yes please! Pass me your phone!” Phil says as he grabs Dan’s phone from his hands and types his number in and quickly hands it back. 

Dan doesn’t think twice as he locks it and puts it in his pocket. “See you Phil, I’ll text you when I’m home.” And he walks out for the second time.

——

He waits an extra half an hour until he finally texts Phil, not wanting to seem clingy or too direct. He opens his phone and sees the contact name.

**Phil (Lesty’s Clippers)**

****

****

He laughs hard at that, as if he’d need to need his occupation to remember him. He erases is and then texts him.

**To: Phil (5:35pm)**

****

**hey phil! it’s dan, thank you a lot for the new cut and the products. maybe i’ll pay you back over coffee tomorrow?**

****

****

He thinks starts to make dinner and not even five minutes later he has a response. 

**From: Phil (5:42pm)**

****

****

**No problem Dan, you look really good. (Not that you didn’t before.) I would love to go for coffee!  
Just text me tomorrow a date and time :)**

****

****

**To: Phil (5:43pm)**

****

****

**sounds good buckaroo, good luck for the rest of your shift! will def text you tomorrow.**

****

****

He puts his phone down and continues to make his dinner, he finds himself subconsciously running his hands through his hair as he’s mixing his stir fry. 

He likes change is what he decided. Moving to a new area he’s barely been to and starting a new job is something he couldn’t image doing in his five year plan before the drama. There’s something new in his chest he can feel, almost like a yearning to explore the future and to try some new things. He hopes Phil will be his friend (or more) and makes a mental note to actually converse with his new co workers when he can. This year is going to be Dan’s year and he’s going to own it. 

—-

It’s not until around midnight when Dan finally checks his phone for the last time, he’s now lying in his bed in his boxers when he’s met with four new messages from Phil.

**From: Phil (6:03pm)**

****

****

**Thank you! I just finished my last client and now I’m just counting deposit and closing down the shop. Super excited for tomorrow!**

****

****

**(6:15pm)**

****

****

**Are you fucking kidding me Dan**

****

****

**(6:16pm)**

****

****

**I can’t believe I didn’t notice until now**

****

****

**(6:16pm)**

****

****

**I’m legally not allowed to give you a refund for that but I will be buying the coffee tomorrow because of you!!!**


End file.
